This week on CounterSpin: Whether as a boondoggle, a cartoon or a mindless chant for the two-minute hate—”building a wall” at the US/Mexico border is an abstraction for many Americans, a political plot point. Among those for whom it is not that? People who live in the borderlands—and those who listen to those who do. We’ll talk with reporter Debbie Weingarten about the walls that already exist on the Southern border.

Also on the show: Speaking of cartoons, trying to get a sensible understanding of Venezuela from US news media is like studying the Vietnam War by watching Rambo. We’ll decipher coverage of the reelection of President Nicolas Maduro with Alexander Main, director of international policy at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.